Redhill

subaru plug wires are supposed to be here by friday, thanks again for your thoughts, red

thanks for the replys, I'll get some new plug wires and try that

The plugs are new, the wires are two or three years old.

the plugs are NGK, the wires are a napa brand. In a no start condition, I use a good NGK plug and pull a plug wire off and make sure the plug threads are grounded. Eventually the plug will start sparking and sometimes the engine will start on three cylinders. Sometimes when this happens, the spark looks weak (orange). The car has never left me stranded, just once a week is hard to start. It has never been hard to start cold. I just thought I would try a ICM for $30, if I need the $160 ICM, I'll have to think that over. Thanks for your thoughts, Red.

thanks for the reply Gloyale, I have replaced the coolant temp sensor. would the cam position sensor be worth a try to replace? Thanks

Hello- I have a 1998 forrester with an unknowned year 2.2 engine (it's a frankencar). I've had this car for almost ten years and it has ran good untill now. The problem is a no spark issue. I have changed the crank position sensor and coil and am thinking about the icm. Searching online I found a vendor that listed two for my engine, both looked like they would plug in and work. One cost $30 and the other was $160. I was just wondering what the differance is between them? Thanks, Red. BTW, the car runs good it's just hard to start at times.

OK, i started the car again today, no white smoke at first but it started again as the engine came up to temp, maybe not as bad. pulled out of the driveway and started up the road, i really had a "cloud" going on behind the car. I decided it would either go or blow, so I said a prayer, and let 'er rip. I really had smoke and some funky smells going on. In about half a mile it got a little better, another half mile down the road it cleared up completely. It could have been coolant left in the exhaust. I always get a lot of help from above, and i need it. thanks for the earthly help too, red

I have thought about coolant left in the exhaust system, I just ran it at fast idle in the driveway for 20-30 minutes. maybe not enough to burn it dry. I will run it more tomorrow and maybe clamp the water off to the turbo to see if that helps. thanks for the ideas, red

thanks for the replys, the smoke (steam) is coolant, it leaves water on the driveway below the tailpipe. everything (pistons, valves, heads) looked pretty good, maybe just the usual cracks from valve seat to sparkplug threads. i have only run it about 30 minutes, do i need to retorqe subaru head gaskets? i will crimp the coolant line and see if the smoke quits. how long can i crimp the line and not fry the turbo? thanks again, red

my 1988 gl turbo wagon was blowing lots of white smoke out of the exhaust so i pulled the engine and replaced the head gaskets, intake gaskets. resurfaced the heads, used subaru head and intake gaskets, took my time and thought i did a good job. it started right up this evening and is still blowing white smoke just like it did before. could the turbo be passing coolant into the exhaust? can i gut the turbo and plug the coolant and oil lines? thanks for any ideas, i'm kinda dissapointed, red

Thanks for the reply, I will bleed them submersed in oil. I thought if they needed anything else, now would be the time! They seemed to be working good before i tore it down. thanks again, red

I have a 88 GL turbo wagon 1.8 that I have just put new head gaskets on. My question is should I do anything to the lifters like make sure their free or bleed them or just put them back in? Thanks for your help, Red

I'll answer my own question since I'm the first one to have this problem, someone might need some help. The "slip joint" behind the mid shaft bearing is made like a cv joint. It is staked together, so I unstaked it, removed a retaining ring and it came apart. I wiped all of the grease out of the part atached to the front half of the driveshaft and reinstalled it on the car. Seems to work fine with just front wheel drive, only time will tell. Red

I have a 1998 forester, auto trans, with duty c problems. I've pulled the driveshaft and would like to put the front half back in so I can drive it but I can't get it apart. Looks like some sort of CV joint behind the midshaft bearing, about an inch of front to rear play but the rear half won't slip out. Thanks for any help, Red

That's what I'm screemin about! Red